49ers face slumping Seahawks, looking to wrap up NFC West

SAN FRANCISCO (9-4) at SEATTLE (7-6)

Thursday, 8:15 p.m. EST, Amazon Prime

FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK NFL LINE: 49ers by 3.

AGAINST THE SPREAD: 49ers 8-5; Seahawks 6-7.

SERIES RECORD: Seahawks lead 30-18.

LAST MEETING: 49ers beat Seahawks 27-7, Sept. 18, 2022, in Santa Clara, California.

LAST WEEK: 49ers beat Buccaneers 35-7; Seahawks lost to Panthers 30-24.

49ERS OFFENSE: OVERALL (9), RUSH (9), PASS (13), SCORING (8).

49ERS DEFENSE: OVERALL (1), RUSH (1), PASS (12), SCORING (1).

SEAHAWKS OFFENSE: OVERALL (13), RUSH (21), PASS (9), SCORING (6).

SEAHAWKS DEFENSE: OVERALL (28), RUSH (31), PASS (18), SCORING (30).

TURNOVER DIFFERENTIAL: 49ers plus-6; Seahawks plus-2.

49ERS PLAYER TO WATCH: QB Brock Purdy completed 16 of 21 pass attempts with two TDs, no interceptions and 134.0 rating in his first career start last week. Purdy also ran for a TD, becoming the first rookie in the Super Bowl era with at least two TD passes, one TD run and a passer rating of at least 125 in his first career start.

SEAHAWKS PLAYER TO WATCH: There haven’t been many bad games this season from QB Geno Smith, but last week was one of them. Seattle desperately needs Smith to rebound from his first game with two interceptions this season and have a greater impact than he did when the teams faced off back in September.

KEY MATCHUP: Can Seattle find the end zone against the best scoring defense in the league? The 49ers are giving up nothing defensively and the expectation is even with a backup QB, San Francisco is going to score on Seattle’s porous defense. The Seahawks have to be able to run the ball and hit a few big plays in the pass game to DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett if they want to hang around.

KEY INJURIES: Purdy was dealing with injuries to his ribs and oblique, but is expected to play despite being listed as questionable. ... Niners WR Deebo Samuel (knee, ankle) is out for about three weeks. ... San Francisco also will be without DT Hassan Ridgeway (pectoral), DT Kevin Givens (knee), CB Samuel Womack (concussion protocol) and S Tarvarius Moore (knee). ... Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III (ankle) is expected to play after missing last week’s loss, while RB DeeJay Dallas (ankle) is likely to miss his second straight game. DT Al Woods (Achilles), S Ryan Neal (knee), CB Tre Brown (illness) are all questionable.

SERIES NOTES: Seattle has won five of the past seven in the series, but were thumped 27-7 by the 49ers earlier this season in Santa Clara. San Francisco has just one victory in Seattle in the past decade, that coming in the final game of the 2019 regular season and clinched the NFC West for the 49ers.

STATS AND STUFF: The 49ers have won six straight games for the first time since starting the 2019 season 8-0. ... San Francisco is 5-0 in the NFC West. ... The Niners lead the NFL with 12 takeaways in their past six games. ... San Francisco has allowed 17 points or fewer in six straight games in a season for the first time since 1992. ... The 49ers ran for 209 yards and allowed no sacks last week, marking the second time in six seasons under Kyle Shanahan that they topped 200 yards rushing without allowing a sack. The other came in Week 2 against Cincinnati in 2019. ... The Niners had their 39-game streak with at least one sack snapped last week. ... San Francisco DE Nick Bosa is tied for the NFL lead with 14 1/2 sacks and needs a half-sack to become the fifth player to get at least 15 sacks twice in his first four seasons since sacks became official in 1982. ... San Francisco LB Dre Greenlaw had 15 tackles and an INT last week. ... Niners RB Christian McCaffrey totaled 153 yards from scrimmage last week with a TD run and catch. His 11 games with both a rushing and receiving touchdown are tied for the fourth most in NFL history. ... The Seahawks are trying to avoid a second straight season with a three-game home losing streak. ... Smith has thrown at least two touchdown passes in seven straight games, the longest active streak in the league. Smith had a season low in completion rate (58.3%) and his second-lowest passer rating (85.9) in last week’s loss. ... The Seahawks have not had a running back rush for more than 37 yards in any of the past four games. ... WR DK Metcalf needs 31 yards receiving to become the fifth player since 1970 with at least 900 yards receiving and five touchdown catches in the first four seasons of their career. ... WR Tyler Lockett has a TD catch in a franchise-record six straight games. Last player with a TD catch in seven straight was Davante Adams in 2020 with Green Bay. ... The Seahawks are giving up 160.5 rushing yards per game and have allowed two of the past three opponents to rush for more than 200 yards. The Seahawks have allowed three teams to top 200 yards rushing this season; they allowed that eight times in the previous 10 seasons. ... LB Cody Barton had a career-high 15 tackles last week.

FANTASY TIP: McCaffrey wasn’t on the 49ers roster when the teams met back in September. Based off the recent evidence from Seattle’s defense and some concerns about Purdy’s health, McCaffrey could be in for a big day. In his first game against Seattle in 2018, McCaffrey topped 100 yards both rushing and receiving and had two touchdowns.

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